Amphibian

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm / Terrestrial / Life / Animal / Vertebrate / Amphibian
—————————

amphibian : any of a class (Amphibia) of cold-blooded vertebrates (such as frogs, toads, or salamanders) intermediate in many characters between fish and reptiles and having gilled aquatic larvae and air-breathing adults — Merriam-Webster See also OneLook

Thesaurus

Roget’s II (Thesaurus.com), Merriam-Webster Thesaurus, Visuwords

Encyclopedia

Amphibians are vertebrates that is four-limbed and ectothermic of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles but, along with mammals and birds, reptiles are amniotes and do not require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are ecological indicators; in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations for many species. — Wikipedia

Amphibian (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Amphibians (David B. Wake & Michelle S. Koo, Current Biology)
Meet Amphibians (AmphibiaWeb, University of California, Berkeley)
AmphibiaWeb’s Illustrated Amphibians of the Earth (AmphibiaWeb, University of California, Berkeley)
AmphibiaWeb (YouTube Channel)

Amphibian Species of the World (Darrel Frost & American Museum of Natural History)

Amphibians (One Zoom)
Amphibia (Catalogue of Life)
Amphibian (WolframAlpha)

———————-

Innovation

Science

Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, amphisbaenids, turtles, terrapins, tortoises, crocodilians, and the tuataras). Birds, which are cladistically included within Reptilia, are traditionally excluded here; the scientific study of birds is the subject of ornithology. Thus, the definition of herpetology can be more precisely stated as the study of ectothermic (cold-blooded) tetrapods. Under this definition “herps” (or sometimes “herptiles” or “herpetofauna”) exclude fish, but it is not uncommon for herpetological and ichthyological scientific societies to collaborate. — Wikipedia

Herpetology (Encyclopædia Britannica)

126 Questions with Answers in Herpetology (Research Gate)

————————–

Preservation

Conservation

Amphibians (Defenders of Wildlife)

Library

DDC: 597.8 Amphibia, Amphibians (Library Thing)
Subject: Amphibians (Library Thing)

Subject: Amphibians (Open Library)

LCC: QL 667 Amphibians (UPenn Online Books)
Subject: Amphibians (UPenn Online Books)

LCC: QL 667 Amphibians (Library of Congress)
Subject: Amphibians (Library of Congress)

Subject: Amphibians (WorldCat)

—————————

Participation

Education

Amphibians (Science Trek)
Amphibians (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers)
Amphibians – Slimy Is Good (Biology4Kids)

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
OER Commons: Open Educational Resources

Community

More News …

Frogs and Reptiles News -- ScienceDaily Snakes, lizards, alligators, frogs and toads. From habitat information to frogs in stem cell research, you will find all the reptile and amphibian news here.

A 66-million-year-old tooth reveals T. rex was...
on September 20, 2026 at 5:56 am
Chemical clues preserved inside fossilized T. rex teeth reveal that the dinosaur maintained a body temperature of about 97 degrees Fahrenheit, almost identical to humans. The finding provides direct evidence that the giant predator was warm-blooded, helping explain how it stayed active and survived in chilly environments as far north as Alaska.
Scientists just named a new snake after Guns N’...
on September 18, 2026 at 12:07 pm
A newly discovered snake from New Guinea has been named after Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, who has loved reptiles since childhood. Genetic testing and physical differences confirmed that the reddish-brown groundsnake, Lielaphis slashi, is a species scientists had never formally recognized before. The nonvenomous snake may use large rear teeth to catch slippery lizards and reptile eggs.
Scientists discover a mysterious new frog hiding...
on September 17, 2026 at 2:08 pm
Scientists discovered a new frog species in the flooded forests of the western Amazon, distinguishing it from nearly identical relatives through DNA and its unique call. Adenomera varcena highlights how much Amazonian biodiversity remains hidden even as habitat loss and climate change threaten these poorly understood species.
UV light reveals possible camouflage on a...
on September 15, 2026 at 2:07 pm
A 125-million-year-old crocodile fossil has revealed preserved skin, possible sensory organs, sophisticated respiratory structures, and an unexpected pattern on its tail. Ultraviolet light exposed alternating bands that may represent ancient camouflage, potentially preserving the oldest known coloration in a crocodylomorph.
A coral reef thought dead for 60 years is teeming...
on September 15, 2026 at 2:18 am
More than 60 years after surveys suggested a deep coral reef off Benin was probably dead, scientists have found it alive. Cameras revealed healthy-looking coral patches supporting multiple fish species more than 50 meters beneath the surface. The discovery suggests West Africa’s coastal waters may contain other overlooked reefs that have yet to be documented.

Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.

Land use and management intensity affect the...
on September 16, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Common, wide-ranging vertebrate species, such as foxes, may be finding more suitable habitat in towns and cities than in the wider landscape, while rarer species—which live in smaller areas—appear to favor different habitats, according to new research into species across Europe.
Only 1 out of every 5 amphibian type localities...
on September 14, 2026 at 7:40 pm
In taxonomy, the location where specimens used to formally describe a new species are collected is called a type locality. These sites can be thought of as the species' formal birthplace, much as the scientific article containing the original description constitutes its scientific birth certificate, because this is how the species officially acquires its identity and name within the scientific community.
More than kinship, social isolation has a greater...
on September 11, 2026 at 2:20 pm
Amphibian larvae—often known as tadpoles—exhibit a behavior known as "social aggregation," in which they gather together to avoid predators. These interactions are evidence of their "association preferences," or their tendency to recognize members of their own species. Some varieties of tadpoles have even shown a preference for their siblings.
Star-fingered toads use fingertip lobules to...
on September 8, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Surinam toads (Pipa pipa) are strange, flat frogs with minuscule eyes that live in the murky waters of the Amazon basin and carry their eggs on their backs. The way they catch prey is even weirder. They lie in wait with outstretched forelimbs until a small fish approaches, then snap open their jaws to create enough suction to draw the fish into their tongueless mouths and swallow it whole, all in a few hundredths of a second. But how do these frogs hunt in low visibility with poor vision?
XY or ZW? Gecko chromosomes reveal evolution's...
on August 27, 2026 at 6:00 pm
Why do humans rely on XY chromosomes to determine sex, while birds use ZW—and many reptiles use neither, letting temperature decide instead? Sex determination is remarkably diverse across the animal kingdom. In genotypic sex determination (GSD), sex is encoded in the genome: XX individuals are female and XY males in humans and most mammals, while in the ZW system, found in birds and some reptiles, males are ZZ and females ZW.